Attack on Abdullah: Kabul hints at Pakistan link

KABUL: Afghanistan on Sunday accused ‘foreign intelligence services’ of being behind an attack targeting presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah that killed 12 people, in a veiled reference to Pakistan.

Abdullah survived the assassination attempt on Friday when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in Kabul.

“Initial investigations indicate foreign intelligence services were involved in this incident through Lashkar-e-Taiba in an organised manner, and the terrorists were aiming to disrupt the election in Afghanistan,” Afghanistan’s National Security Council, which is chaired by President Hamid Karzai, said in a statement.

The attempt to assassinate Abdullah triggered strong international condemnation, including from the United States and the UN Security Council.

Afghanistan is in the middle of elections to choose a successor to Karzai. Abdullah fell short of the 50 per cent threshold needed for an outright victory in the April first round and will face former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani in the run-off.

The NSC statement said Friday’s attack on Abdullah was ‘the worst incident during election campaign’.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2014.